A/N:
The story is inspired by several thoughts from "Bram Stoker's Dracula" and "Interview with the Vampire", and by the story "Scorching Blue: The First Tale" by kurlz HPFF.
Read this story at your own risk, if you are not into AU! You've been warned :)
The text printed in bold typeface are song titles from the 2009 album "For Lies I Sire" of the doom metal group My Dying Bride, recommended for listening.
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"Thanks for coming, Ron," greeted Harry his friend as the redhead stumbled out from the fireplace at 12 Grimmauld Place. "I couldn't have managed to clear this place on my own."
"No worries, mate," Ron assured him as he waved a rather large package, which, according to the fine smell and pleasant warmth it was radiating, contained some of the finest lunches Molly Weasley could manage, placed under a Preserving charm. "I told Mum we would be staying up till late so she sent a bite along."
"Haven't been there for a while. How's things? Hermione alright?" he enquired as he fished two bottles of cold butterbeer out of the package.
Ron shrugged his shoulders, "Pregnant, as always. At least I think this state of hers will last for an eternity. Her belly is so huge and I feel the girlie inside kicking all the time. But, I guess, it will be over within a week or two, at least it's what the Mediwitch said. Ginny came over with the boy last night. Sorry mate, didn't want to..." he cut off, when he saw the pain on Harry's face.
"It's OK, Ron, really. I'm glad for Ginny and Dean," muttered Harry unconvincingly, only to ease the discomfort of his best friend. He gave a bottle to Ron and they toasted. When their bottles were empty, Harry pointed to the attics. "Shall we start there, then, Ron?"
"Off we go, for a Black-magic free 12 Grimmauld Place!" yelled Ron and gave high five to Harry, then the two friends took the stairs.
After Kreacher's death, the only cleaning being done in the house was some occasional floor-sweeping and washing up the dirty dishes. As Harry hadn't ever been in most of the rooms of the house, he didn't know what to expect, so Molly sent some books along with different household spells.
Under the roof, up in the attic it was warm and dry, with a prominent smell of ancient wood lingering in the air. There was a thick layer of dust covering everything: walls, floor, old pieces of furniture, here and there skeletons of mice and rats, which could've just as well been lying there for centuries. Harry lit some candles with his wand and in their flickering light he saw the contours of a familiar object on the ground. With a smile on his face he recognized his Hogwarts trunk, the sole and silent witness of the best seven years of his life. Kreacher must have brought it up here after Harry'd got his diploma and moved in permanently.
Harry conjured some torches and lit them, then he sat comfortably on the floor, his back against a wall. He looked up at Ron, who was busy unloading moldy books and other stuff from a heavy cupboard, and gave him a thumbs-up, then opened the trunk.
One by one, he removed the items and put them around himself on the floor, in a half-circle. At every item he stopped as he recalled one or another of his memories, connected with it. A broken piece of Sirius' enchanted mirror. An old Divination book from his third year. He smiled as he remembered the desperate efforts of Professor Trelawney, the old hoax used to make to teach them anything. Nobody except the Patil sisters would listen to her. Poor Professor, she was killed in the second Battle, yet another victim. So many lives lost in vain. So many unnecessary deaths, young, broken lives.
Slowly he emptied the trunk and, when he was just about to sweep this garbage back into it to throw the whole trunk away, his eyes caught the sight of something. It was a thin leather band. Harry pulled it out of the trunk, only to uncover the pendant, dangling on it. A pendant in form of a golden snake, biting into his own tail, forming a perfect circle. The eye of the snake was formed by a red ruby, still glowing with a faint light. With a loud sigh, he held the pendant with both hands and pressed it to his heart. This pain was never to ease, even as the years were passing by, slow and ruthless.
Echoes from a Hollow Soul
"Leticia, I love you. I might be dead by dawn and I don't want to leave this world without even telling you." Harry spoke in a hoarse voice, trembling from the emotions he'd had to suppress for so many months.
"Harry, you are very dear to me and I hate myself for saying this, but what you feel for me is not love. We have been through this before. When a vampire hunts, he chooses his victim from the opposite sex and Calls him. He mesmerizes the victim, creates an attraction, which is stronger than the self-preservation instinct of the human, so that the human willingly becomes his prey. You feel attracted towards me exactly the same way. Please understand that we can never be together. I'm too dangerous to be around you. A simple cut on your finger and I'd transform. If you hadn't been wearing this amulet, I would have killed you a hundred times already. Harry, for your and my sake, please let me go." The thin, raven-haired girl sitting besides Harry took his hands into hers, stone-cold as always. She drew his hand on her chest.
"Feel it! I have no heartbeat. I'm dead! I'm nothing but an empty shell, driven by bloodthirst!"
That was...actually...not entirely true. She was born into a family of vampires. Both her parents were doctors, doing research into incurable illnesses and had never harmed a human being. They were killed by the Dark Lord shortly after his resurrection as they didn't wish to join him and Leticia was on the run ever since. She had one thing in mind, to avenge her parents and unborn sister her mother was carrying when she was killed.
She, actually, never hunted, and could live off human food, but she was right in one thing. Seeing blood would render her absolutely unpredictable. Well, in fact, absolutely predictable.
The trio met her in August, and, apart from the rather awkward tension between them in the beginning, soon they learnt to trust her. She gave them an amulet, which Hermione duplicated using a Protean charm, to protect them from her rage. Her capabilities were really helpful to survive during their year-long hideout and slowly they became friends.
Harry cupped her cheeks and looked into her glowing emerald eyes. He felt her hands caressing his hair and it was a soothing feeling. "Like Dumbledore said once, I have a power the Dark Lord does not. I have the power to love, and I can distinguish between real love, attraction and being spellbound. What I feel for you is so much more than that. I would give my life to save yours. I would love to spend my entire life with you. I want to be with you until my dying day."
"Harry..." she could not finish the sentence. No matter how awkward the situation was, she drew him nearer and captured his lips with hers. She felt that Harry's lips parted and she felt the probing touch of his tongue against her lips. She closed her eyes and gave herself over to this feeling she thought she would never experience. They held each other tight for dear life as they kissed, the 18-year old boy and the 50-year old vampire, in the shadow of Death, in a half-ruined shed, somewhere in the Scottish Highlands. They kissed as if it was the last moment of their life, to make up for the time lost so far, and for the time which would never be theirs.
They heard a loud shriek and broke the kiss. Only their eyes remained connected as if they wanted to carve the face of the other into their memories forever. The intruders, Ron and Hermione, shared a glance displaying utter disbelief.
"Harry, we're surrounded," said Hermione, breaking the silence.
Fall With Me
They were losing the battle. Several students were already dead; the Death Eaters were throwing Killing Curse after Killing Curse onto everything and everybody that moved. Ginny was captured, Voldemort ordered Bellatrix, his most devoted servant, to retreat from the battle and guard her. He knew from Draco of their brief affair last year and wanted to use her as bait to get Harry.
A mile away from the battle, in a stable, the four were licking on their wounds. Hermione was still lying unconscious on the ground, Ron and Harry were bleeding from several deep cuts and wounds. They'd barely managed to Apparate away with Hermione's body and now were on the edge on unconsciousness themselves.
Leticia, from the sight of all their blood, was breathing heavily, baring her teeth. If the three weren´t wearing the amulets on their neck, she would have slain them there on the spot. The boys even in their semi-conscious state shrugged as they watched her pace up and down, shaking in her rage. Right now, she was not the "awkward" girl who just hours ago kissed Harry. She was an animal on hunt. She was a beast, a monster.
"We have lost. They will kill each and every student who does not give up the fight and we cannot do anything," sighed Ron, grimacing from pain.
"I have depleted all my magical energy. I can't wield my wand any more," admitted Harry, as the realization came down to him. This was it. The end. What they'd feared only hours ago, became a reality. Suddenly, his face cleared and he pushed himself into a sitting position.
Bring Me Victory
"Leticia, I.."
"GO AWAY!" bellowed the vampire, trembling in fury.
"Listen to me! Listen to me." When he saw he had her attention, he started again. "We have only one chance. You are the only one who can kill him. You need energy, though, and I don't think you have any blood preparates on you, right? You have to drink my blood."
"You are aware that it will kill you, aren't you?" Leticia inquired as-a-matter-of-factly.
"Yes, it will, but it will save the lives of many others," stated Harry, and ignored the shocked look on Ron's face. "Come on, mate, you know we have no options left."
"Love, do it. I'm not afraid. Let me just kiss you...one last time," he said as he smiled at her and extended his hands towards her. Leticia nodded, and for a split second, Harry could swear, he saw endless pain and tears in her eyes. Slowly she moved towards him, regaining her usual girlish shape, the red fire in her eyes making place for the emerald glow Harry loved so much, her fangs gone. She knelt down besides Harry and held him to her, very gently, for the last time, as their lips united in a desperate kiss.
"Harry, dear, I love you," she whispered, when the kiss ended.
"I love you too, Leticia. Always have, always will. See, I was right about you?" he joked. Then he turned serious. "Ron, mate, thanks for being around. See you some time again. Take good care of Hermione and Ginny, will you?" Not willing to wait for his answer, he felt the leather band of the amulet around his neck, and removed it.
"DO IT!" he yelled at Leticia. She nodded and closed her eyes, feeling that tears were overwhelming her. She kissed him once more, letting her lips linger on his for a second too long; then she moved lower, planting small kisses on his chin and the side of his neck. She inhaled with a sharp breath and, without transforming, bared her fangs again.
Sanctuario di Sangue
Harry felt in a haze as two sharp needles ripped his skin open and his remaining strength was drained away, together with his blood. He couldn't move as Leticia was holding him with an iron grip while she was feeding. The last image before his, already blind, eyes was a golden snake biting into his own tail and the ruby glow in the snake's eyes, then he slid into eternal darkness. Leticia let out a satisfied roar, carefully sank Harry's lifeless body onto the ground, cast a last, victorious glance on the other boy, paralyzed with fear, then took off in a whirlwind.
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Images. Two fangs, piercing my skin. Two eyes, glowing red. A kiss I didn't want to end. Where am I? What happened? I'm so weak, can't move. Can't open my eyes. It's so dark...it's so cold.
Voices.
"Hermione, he moved his hand." A boy's voice.
"En...Ennervate." Another voice, this time a girl.
"Harry, come back!" Who is this girl? Seems vaguely familiar.
Heavy, ragged breathing.
Then, the realization. He was alive. It was the last Horcrux, the piece of Voldemort's soul inside him, that was killed by Leticia, not his own soul.
Slowly, he opened his eyes. He saw a roof above his head. By the dimmed light of a Lumos charm someone had cast, he could make out four silhouettes. Two of them, a boy and a girl were sitting by him discussing something. A little further another girl, a redhead, was sitting, in her lap resting the head belonging to the fourth silhouette. Then, everything clicked into its place. He tried to stand up, but he was very weak and his feet gave in. With huge effort he managed to raise himself on all fours and crawled over to Ginny. She was holding the hand of Leticia.
"I'm so sorry, Harry. The Healing Charms I know of won't work on a vampire, I've tried everything I could but she's dying!" cried Hermione.
"Leticia, hang on, love!" he begged and took both her hands, colder than usual, feeling lifeless. He missed the look in Ginny's eyes, a mixture of hatred, pain and sorrow. "Stay here with me, please!"
"Vol...Voldemort is dead, and...Bellatrix as well...killed them both..." Leticia spoke very softly, every word cost her huge effort. "Death Eaters gone...we won...brought Ginny with me...wasn't...quick enough...Sectumsempra..." Now Harry saw the huge, gaping wound in her left side, maybe 10 inches long, from where her black blood was pouring freely.
"Ferula! Ennervate!" Harry burst into tears. "Hermione, Ron, Ginny, do something for her, please!" They stood there, helplessly, watching one of their friends dying and the other one on the edge of insanity.
"It's OK, Harry. I'm at peace with it. Thank you for loving me. For a short moment, the first time in my life, I was happy. I love you too," she whispered, collecting the remainders of her strength and their lips met in one last kiss. Her body convulsed one last time, and then, she was gone.
Harry was just sitting there, out of tears, as the night slowly made place for the morning, holding the lifeless hands of his girlfriend. The others were hesitant to speak, hesitant to move, just let him grieve in silence. Then, the first ray of sunlight reached into the stable through the broken glass of the only window. With a velvety touch the sunlight caressed Leticia's body, which slowly turned to ashes. Soon she was completely gone, save a small heap of grey dust.
Death Triumphant
Harry stood up in silence. He searched the floor for a while, then he found it. The pendant in the shape of the snake. His only palpable memory of his gone girlfriend. The girl he loved, who gave her life to save the life of the girl who loved him.